China IV: There and Back Again

Finally, the fourth and final installment on China. I apologize for my absence from the blogosphere - getting caught up and working on a final project consumes inordinate amounts of time. Feel free to read parts I, II, and III to refresh yourselves.

Before I return to "normal blogging," I'd want to complete my series on China. This post is more introspective than the previous installments, and I apologize if that makes for more difficult reading. There are thoughts and emotions I'd like to scribble down before they become lost in the archives of my memory. Welcome to the journey in my thoughts as I travel "there and back again."

Where to begin but at the very beginning? I had applied to go on this specific trip. I was resolved to go, but I didn't know if they'd accept my application for this trip, being that I'm Chinese. Imagine my excitement when I was selected! But then I starting having doubts and second thoughts. How will they (the Chinese) think and respond to me? What if my spoken Mandarin fails me? What if, what if, what if . . . My mind races, like it always does, always in motion. I then began to wonder what I'd miss during that week in China. Would I suffer from internet withdrawal? How badly will my email build up? Will I be begging and bursting to wank? Will I miss certain foods and drinks? The one thing I knew for certain was that I would not miss the cold. Granted, it was cold in China when we arrived, but at least 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit warmer.

From the outset, I was comforted by the knowledge that another ABC (American-born Chinese) guy was going on this trip. We became roommates for this trip, and his presence - and perhaps our mutual interactions and anxieties - played a crucial role in what this China trip meant to me. We shared this common thread and I think we would agree that we reacted to it similarly. I'll call him DY-M for the rest of this post.
-----
Flight to China
The flight to China was relatively uninteresting (first to the Tokyo airport at Nerita). I had an entire row to myself! I mostly read The Spanish Bow, the book I had intended on finishing over Winter Break. It's a really good book! I didn't want to sleep on the way to China (or sleep very little) to help combat jetlag. I didn't sit near anyone going on this trip, but that was alright. As my friend said, "When else do you have 14 hours to do NOTHING? Use it to relax, read a book, enjoy it." And that I did.

I did remember getting up once to go to the bathroom and when I returned, a Chinese woman had taken the 2 seats next to me. She was sleeping. -_- I didn't even recognize where my seat was at first! So yeah, I was really annoyed by her.

The flight from Nerita to Beijing was packed! You can read about it a little more in the second installment here. Not much to say.

First Night in Beijing
The airport was surprisingly empty when we stepped off the plane. Then again, we got in around 9pm or so. We were all exhausted. There were still things up from the Beijing Olympics the summer previous and I had taken some pictures (but these were lost). I was highly amused by the exit signs, or what I affectionately called "the green exit man" because the sign was green instead of red, and it showed a stick figure guy running out a door.

We made our way by bus to the Friendship Hotel. This was an amazing hotel, I really wish I had pictures of it (instead of just the lobby below). The first thing I did was call my friend, JW-M, who was studying abroad in Beijing for the year. Then DY-M and I crashed. The bed was SO HARD. I think there was either no mattress or no box-spring. Whatever, my back ached when I got up.

Breakfast was amazing at the Friendship hotel. It was typical Chinese breakfast food - steamed buns, steamed vegetables, stuffed steamed buns, various meat dishes, a nice assortment of fruits. JW-M found the breakfast lacking in China; his opinion that breakfast food is much better here in the US. I suppose he has a point. But we don't have kiwi juice here in the US! Kiwi juice = amazing. It's so green (and tasty)!!

Whirlwind Tourist Day
The next day was our "whirlwind tourist day" where we visited the Great Wall, the Imperial Palace, Tiananmen Square, and Laoshi Teahouse. You can read more about it in the the first installment here. But here are some more pics anyway. :P

The Great Wall!

The Imperial Palace!

It's a dragon-turtle in the Forbidden City!

Across from Tiananmen Square!

By the time we got to the Laoshi Teahouse we were exhausted and on the verge of falling asleep. It was the first place I encountered the infamous squat toilets. I managed to refrain from using a squat toilet throughout the entire trip. Go me! Anyway, the food was amazing as usual. And we saw a kind of screen play (not exactly sure what it's called) before going upstairs for a cultural show (which we were all doing the head bobbing dance of sleepiness).

Omg, look at this food!!

Screen play thing.

Roommate Bonding
That night, and almost every night, DY-M and I bonded a bit (in the most non-sexual way, of course). We constantly talked about how exhausted the day made us, haha. We almost always went to bed between 9pm-11pm. We discussed about what it was like being ABCs in China. We were both impressed by how we seemed to blend in relatively unnoticed. This may be because we're usually juxtaposed by our non-Chinese friends on the trip, and we were always together to cover for the holes in each other's linguistic skills. This usually worked pretty well. Often times, the Chinese people we interacted would come to us first because they knew we knew Chinese and English, and could translate for them. It did feel good being "useful" as an ad hoc interpreter.

DY-M did get to practice his Chinese more than me, oh well. My spoken Mandarin is better than his, simply because he didn't learn Mandarin until undergrad (he speaks Cantonese at home) whereas Mandarin is more native to me. We watched a comedy sit-com on the CCTV. I was able to understand maybe 80% of what was spoken, and he understood about 60% (so he says) but was able to understand what went on due to the context. That's pretty impressive, in my opinion.

I'm really glad he was my roommate. We shared a certain connection by the singular fact that we are both ABCs. And he was a really sweet guy - always really nice, smiling, and helpful. But that's part of his personality as well as his life philosophy. It didn't hurt that he has an amazingly fit body. ;-) There was something about him, some kind of comforting aura, that almost made me come out to him (for no real reason).

Tianjin
We spent the vast majority of our remaining time in China in Tianjin, about 2 hours south of Beijing by bus (but only 30 minutes but their new amazingly fast high-speed train). The first day we were in Tianjin, we ate at the famous GoBuLi Restaurant. The food, again, was amazing. This place is known for their steamed buns and dumplings. I had pictures, but they were lost and were unrecoverable. :-( But a couple did survive:

We spent most of the week observing and working with the Tianjin CDC (TJCDC). You can read all about it in the third installment here.

While we were technically on "lock down" when we were at the hotel, some of us did sneak to the nearby Chinese Wal-mart to buy some things. DY-M bought a pair of unhemmed pants, so he had to get them tailored. There was tailor who did 15-minute pants alterations. She had the thickest Tianjin accent ever. DY-M asked me to come along for (linguistic) support, just in case. We both had problems understanding! This little old grandma person next to us in line just laughed at us.

On our way to Wal-mart.

Food!
I felt that this warranted its own category. Not much to say here really. Just that, the first few days I knew every dish in front of us (or at least I could identify what animal/plant it came from). As the days wore on, I became less and less familiar with the dishes as they became more and more local/regional.

I'm not actually sure what this is. o_O

Last Day in China
The last day in China we went to Ancient Culture Street in Tianjin. It was basically a long street with a lot of street vendors. I met up with JW-M for the second time during this trip (the first time was in the Friendship Hotel that first night). It was nice catching up, somewhat. There were so many things to buy/bargain for! I didn't know what to get and whom to get it for. I ended up getting a jade turtle bracelet for SR-F, two silk scarves - one for my researcher's wife and one for AG-F, a solar-powered apple thingy (it moves its leaves up and down) for my researcher, and a tea pot of some sort. I had gotten 2 scrolls earlier - one that went to RZ-F and one that I'm keeping for myself.

We stayed in a hotel near-ish to the Beijing airport the night before we left. Several of us went to a karaoke club/bar place. It was actually pretty cool! DY-M did much of the talking in Chinese, but I was there as backup should my "services" be required. I'm actually not sure I could've held my own as well as he did. After we went back to the hotel, DY-M wanted to get a pedicure/foot massage and convinced me to go (his older brother introduced him to pedicures/foot massages when they were in Thailand visiting an uncle, he also tried convincing others to go as well). When we got to the place, it was rather expensive and kind of sketchy, so we called it off.

Our flight was early in the morning (around 8am I think). I was actually woken by one of the hotel staff. He had very limited English but needed to communicate with some of the people in our group who had already started going down to breakfast. It took my auditory system a moment to calibrate to his accent before I could acquiesce to his request. Basically, he wanted me to let everyone know that they were supposed to check out before heading down to breakfast to make things quicker and smoother, as the staff needed to check the rooms before we left.

Flight Back Again
The Beijing airport was still pretty empty, though not as empty as when we first arrived. We lounged in the airport for a while. I talked to my roommate (well, I suppose now we weren't roommates) for a bit before boarding the plane.

On the flight from Beijing to Nerita, I sat next to a really cute French guy. I thought he was Australian at first from his accent, but no, he's from France. No idea where he picked up that Australian-like accent. The moment he said he was french, the Japanese guy next to him with a fro (what Asian has a fro?!) started talking to him in French. And they talked in French the whole flight!! Grrr, he was my French guy to talk to. You totally stole him Japanese fro-guy. Also, there were two babies bawling almost the entire flight. They sat all the way towards the front of the plane whereas most of us sat near the back, but we could still hear them all the way down the plane.

The flight from Nerita back to the US was rather uninteresting. There was a choir group of Korean girls on the flight. They took up a lot of space on the plane, and the plane was completely packed! I was mildly surprised that the Korean girls didn't know English, as I assumed they were from South Korea that was occupied by the US for a while (and was heavily influenced by both good and bad aspects of American culture). Our flight actually arrived back in the US about an hour early, which apparently is very unusual.
-----
That was some of the highlights of the trip not mentioned in the previous 3 installments. There's so much more I could say. But perhaps now's the time to answer the question posed at the beginning of this post: What did this trip mean to me? It meant discovery, adventure, and escape.

I discovered that I could hold my own if I absolutely had to. I also discovered that the Chinese liked talking about me to each other when they find out I'm an ABC. At lunch in both Dagang and Jixian, some of the CDC people were talking about they were surprised I could understand and speak Chinese. I'm not sure they realized I could hear and understand everything they said. They toasted to me for that, haha. Red wine - toast away. White wine - it'll mess you up.

The entire trip was a super-condensed adventure. The Great Wall, the Imperial Palace, the CDC, the mountainside, Ancient Culture Street, karaoke, every moment was alive. There was so much to do, and we were so tired at the end of each day (so much so that I didn't even feel the urge to wank once the whole trip). For the first time in a very long time, I felt like I was alive and in this world, in this moment. And this brings me to my last point.

This was my escape. It was an escape from my daily life. It was an escape from being chained to my laptop and the internet and all that entailed. I did not miss the internet at all while I was in China. It was an escape from the academic stresses. Here, among the few people who went and among the massive populace, I - in a sense - escaped from who I was. It was like suspending reality in once place in the world to experience life in another. It was . . . relief.

Now, some final parting pics:

China III: On Assignment

I sincerely apologize for not having posted in so long. It's been a hectic month. It's about time that I finish my China posts, only 2 more to go! This post is about the reason why I was in China in the first place, and is of great personal interest to me, though some/many(?) readers might find it boring.

As I've already mentioned, I went with 11 other students as a part of a trip sponsored by the school of public health. Our principal goal was to observe and experience another health care system and immerse ourselves in another culture. I was a part of the measles vaccination group.

On the second day (Sunday) in China we met with officials at the National China CDC (Centers for Disease Control). The building was cold and pretty old, and the hallways were unheated. Interestingly, though there was a "No smoking" sign immediately upon entering the lobby, a couple employees were smoking under the sign! That kind of stunned us. We were then guided to a meeting room (actually heated!) where we were served hot tea. Constantly. It was really nice, actually, as the tea kept you constantly at the edge of wakefulness.

We learned a little about the history of the China CDC. Though it had existed for decades, it had received very little funding. Then SARS hit. Suddenly, the government put a lot of money into the public health infrastructure and the CDC was basically built over the span of 2 years. In these 2 years, China was able to do things that our US CDC has failed. China has also been preparing for the avian flu for quite some time now.

The pinnacle of their achievement was a real-time surveillance system of all diseases occurring within their borders. Doctors and hospitals would report any communicable diseases to the nearest level branch of the CDC, that then relayed the report to higher CDC levels until it reached the national-level CDC. Thus, as soon as a communicable disease was diagnosed, it would be reported to the National CDC within hours. By the next morning, there would be a report of the previous day's disease occurrence on the desk of the health minister. The ability to know where and when diseases occur is an amazing achievement, especially for a population as large as China's. Our CDC had contemplated creating such a system, but after the bio-terrorism funds were pulled from the CDC some time after 9-11, all progress in this technology has stopped. As such, we have rather poor disease-tracking ability here in the US compared to China.

Later that day we went to the Tianjin CDC about 2 hours' drive away. It was much newer and in better condition than the National CDC (though, they're going to be completing the new National CDC facilities in the next 1-3 months now).

We were shown around the Tianjin CDC, which was really nice on the inside as well. Too bad many of my pics of the inside were deleted. I did, however, manage to get this pic from the lobby of the Tianjin CDC:

Chinese New Year ftw! Year of the ox!! :P

Monday through Friday was spent learning about how the Tianjin CDC (TJCDC) measles campaign worked. In December 2008, the TJCDC undertook a massive measles vaccination campaign. There were billboards, songs, poems/rhymes, advertisements, and text messages notifying people to get free measles vaccinations. Note: In China, people get 4 measles shots, 2 that're bundled into the MMR shots like here in the US, and 2 stand-alone shots. The result? They were able to decrease the incidence of measles of 500+ cases in the first 7 weeks of 2008 to less than 20 cases in the first 7 weeks of 2009 in Tianjin. All in the timespan of a month! I doubt we could achieve this level of efficiency (or public reach) in the US.

It was intersting to note that most vaccines are free to the Chinese citizens. In fact, they were very surprised that the US didn't offer free vaccines to anyone (only at a reduced rate for low-income, and/or paid for by insurance or out-of-pocket for everyone else). They were a little taken aback when we told them that the HPV vaccine (for genital warts/cervical cancer in women) wasn't free. I believe it's not even covered by most insurances in the US.

On Tuesday, we designed questionnaires to ask parents of infants on whether or not their child received the measles vaccine. On Wednesday, we went to the local CDC in Dagang (大港) District. From there we went to a vaccine clinic. After doctors administer the vaccine, infants and children go to an observation room for 30 minutes to make sure there are no adverse reactions to the vaccine. (We don't do this here in the US - you get vaccinated and then sent along your way, if you have a reaction, go to the ER.)

Baby in the observation room.

Then we went to a nearby hospital. Interestingly, there was someone smoking near the "No smoking" sign in the lobby. Seriously, what's wrong with people?! Here we looked at hospital charts and records to see if infants were being vaccinated in the hospitals. There are 3 places to receive vaccinations: hospitals, clinics, and health/wellness centers.

Hospital charts.

Before we left the hospital, we saw the "floating baby" room. Basically, parents would bring their young infants (a couple weeks to 2 months old) here and their babies would float in a tub of water at a specific temperature. The nurse would attach a flotation device to the baby's neck so the baby could move around in the water. After "playing" around in the water for a while, the nurse would give the infant a massage. The whole point of this was to get young infants moving to promote movement and general health. It makes some sense, and allowing babies to float in water allows for movement with no impact.

In the afternoon, we located an infant with measles. Measles is so rare now in the US that doctors being trained today are likely to misdiagnose it as something else. Crazy, huh? Since we only had 2 measles shots as opposed to 4 (2 should've sufficed for us anyway), the CDC people who accompanied us didn't want to take chances; so they had us wear face masks.

It's hard to see (the red rashes), but this smiling kid had measles.

After we had examined the child, we went into a nearby neighborhood with our questionnaire to sample parents with infants at random. Every child has a record of his/her vaccine record in a little red book that is usually kept by the parents (relatively few parents in the US have a record of their children's vaccine records). Thus all parents and doctors have a copy of which vaccines had been given, as well as the dates of when future vaccines are due. Doctors will then call to remind parents to bring in their child when a vaccine shot is due.

On assignment, looking for babies to interview.

The little red book of vaccines opened up.

On Thursday we did the same thing in Jixian (蓟县 - Ji County). Again, we went to a local clinic.

However, we didn't end up doing much more than that, because we had a LONG lunch where we also had white wine. Okay, seriously, that stuff will mess you up. It's not actually wine. It's more like, vodka with 32-50% alcohol content. I had like, 2 double-shots of that stuff and I had to stop (I could've handled more, but I ate WAY too much). We were NOT in good shape after lunch to interview people. And it was getting late. Friday was basically a debriefing.

If there's one thing that impressed me about China's health care system, it is the close relationship between the health fields. All the health fields - medicine, nursing, public health, etc - are united under a common banner. Members of the different health fields spend part of their time training together and getting used to working with each other. In the US, each field is separate and independent of each other. No wonder why doctors, nurses, and public health officials sometimes don't get along very well. There's certainly an air of efficiency in China. Sure, our hospitals are generally in much better condition; sure, our medical technologies blow China's out of the water; but at least they know how to work together to get a job done.

China II: Through Foreign Eyes

The plane transfer from the Tokyo airport at Nerita to Beijing was the first instance during the China trip that our group probably felt a culture shift. The flight attendants spoke in English, Chinese, and Japanese. I was amused (and perhaps relieved?) when the flight attendants defaulted to Mandarin Chinese when speaking with me. Perhaps I wasn't so out of place after all. Then imagine stepping off the plane into the Beijing airport - the signs all in Chinese with English below, and the people overwhelmingly Chinese.

For most in our group of 14, I'm sure they immediately felt the reality of being in a foreign country where English was not the primary language. For me, less so. It's difficult to describe - I could still feel myself in a different country on a different continent, and yet it didn't feel totally unknown to me. In a way (terrible analogy coming up) it was like a ridiculously massive Chinatown. More than culture-shock, I was filled with a sense of adventure. I attempted to read every sign I could. I didn't do too badly, as I could usually get the gist of what many signs were about even if I could not read them outright. It's strange to be able to understand a word (character) but not know/remember how to pronounce it.

Still, there were notable departures from the US. A country steeped in thousands of years of history is about to accumulate a rich cultural tapestry that continues to evolve and progress. You could feel the ancient as it resonates to the current day. In comparison, the US almost feels raw, too young, and without a unifying thread. Of course I know this isn't really true, but everything's relative.

Some things of note - cultural differences - with accompanying pictures. These pictures are but imperfect glimpses of China through foreign eyes.

1. Everywhere you went, the ancient contrasts with the modern. Iconic old-style gates adorn many street corners as high-rises and skyscrapers tower in the background.

A typical Chinese gate in Beijing.

High-rises in Tianjin.

2. There is an interesting atmosphere within China. People are constantly striving towards progress, to become a developed first-world nation and leave the third-world behind. Yet, traditions are strong and the culture is proud.

An assortment of Chinese instruments. And a cello in the back. :D

Okay, this is just epic. The 2 standing women have a platform candle-holder thing in their mouth that holds up 3 candles, and they're supposed to sing through their teeth without letting go of the candle-holder while playing a drum with one hand and a snap thing in the other. And then they do all this while being in sync with each other. I wasn't technically allowed to take a pic of this.

3. There is a kind of bluntness in China that I found quite amusing. There are things people aren't afraid to write or say to your face.

Yes, it said that in the hotel room. LOL!!

4. I'm convinced that babies and young kids are cuter in China than they are in the US. It might have something to do with what they wear. I also found it particularly interesting that babies don't wear diapers in China. Instead, there's a flap over their butt (if there's a flap there at all). I see babies with their bare butts. Not too sure why it's this way . . . and I didn't take a pic of that. But, cute babies!

I kind of "stalked" this kid for a minute to get a pic. Too bad she fell asleep on her dad.

He wanted to hold our tour guide's pink flower. :)

The child is wearing a ladybug coat!!

A cute kid in Ji County (蓟县 - Jixian) in Tianjin.

5. Perhaps the most culturally different thing is the dichotomy between how homes look on the outside compared to how they look on the inside. Outside many apartments look run-down with trash everywhere. If you were to view these places through the "lens of the US" you would think people of low SES (socio-economic status) lived in these dwellings. But the moment you walk into these homes, you'll be in for a shock. Inside these homes are immaculately clean, the furniture nice if not always new, and all in all better condition than my apartment back near campus. Does. Not. Compute.

Yes, it looks that trashy everywhere in some places.

Apartments in Dagang District (大港) in Tianjian.

6. The CDC people were very open when talking with us. We were surprised that they were willing to talk about so many topics. For example, they suggested that we visit Tibet because it's so beautiful there, and many people make Buddhist pilgrimages to Tibet. The national government may censor a lot of things, but most people don't seem to care unless it interferes with their daily life. It seems the Chinese are very apolitical and could care less about politics, again, as long as it doesn't interfere with their daily lives.

7. The Chinese have a different definition of ethnicity than we do here in the US. There are dozens of minority groups in China other than the Han Chinese, that consists of well over 90% of the populace. To a foreigner, everyone looks Chinese. But there are subtle differences in culture, clothing, traditions, and dialects.

8. The bikers in China are fearless. They will ride their bicycles right up next to cars and buses without any kind of body protection. Traffic in China defies the rules observed in the US. You go if you have the green and you see a chance. As my friend JW-M says (he's studying abroad in China for a year right now), "It's all about the intent. The moment you're nice and try to let people go, confusion and chaos arises. That's when accidents happen. As long as you move with intent, everything will work itself out."

9. KFC, yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken, is everywhere. So is McDonald's. Apparently, people in China treat KFC like we do with Starbucks. People will buy a chicken sandwich and sit in the KFC for hours while on their computers, reading a newspaper, or studying. Supposedly the food served in the Chinese KFC is better than the food served in KFC here. Same goes for Pizza Hut, which is actually a big deal there - it's sit-down with table service, and actually really nice. We didn't go while we were there, but the thought amused us.

Another gate somewhere in Ji County.

Weird ass statue. I don't understand this.

Yes, there is a KFC in some remote area in Ji County.

10. What else? There aren't many fat people in China. I think it's because people walk EVERYWHERE. Traffic sucks because there are tons of cars, taxis, trucks, and buses. But the safety signs on the highway are highly entertaining. Too bad we were moving too fast for me to take pics of them. And yes, air pollution is a huge issue in China. We definitely experienced some of it (though not at its worst). Interestingly, there were signs for green energy and green technology everywhere. There were many trees planted outside Beijing, like almost an entire forest full. I think this is presumably to help against the sandstorms that blow into Beijing in the summer and to prevent the desertification due to the encroachment of the deserts to the north and west. "Arbor day" in China actually means something.

I do not have enough pictures to do justice to all the "differences" and interesting things we saw in China. There's so much that I haven't even begun to touch on. This is only a sample of China through foreign eyes. Though my eyes may not be as foreign as many of you readers looking at these pics.

I'll finish this post with a couple of pics: Wang Leehom on a water bottle. XD Stay tuned for the next post of Aek in China!! :P

---TANGENT---
Really quick, I caught up on a "new" blog: southern inebriation. Go over and say hi if you haven't already!! :D
---END TANGENT---

China I: A Stranger in Ancestral Lands

This is the first in the long overdue installment on China.

First a quick synopsis of why I was in China. Over Spring Break, I went with 11 other students and 3 faculty from my school to visit the China CDC and the Tianjin CDC. We were to immerse ourselves in the culture and learn a different perspective on health care. We were divided into two teams: a measles vaccination group (that I was in) and a maternal-infant health group.
-----
"How would people view someone like me - obviously Chinese on the outside but perhaps less so on the inside?"

A quote from a journal entry we had to keep while in China. Both my roommate for the trip and I are Chinese-Americans, more specifically ABCs (American-born Chinese) who've never stepped foot on to mainland China. We were "in the same boat," we were constantly curious about how the real Chinese would view the two of us. What would it be like to be a stranger in one's "ancestral lands?"

I was filled with nervous anticipation long before I endured the 14 hours on a plane before landing on another continent. What would it be like to walk in the land that my ancestors had lived and died in? Would I feel some connection? Would this trip mean something more to me than an academic inquiry into a foreign health care system?

Riding in a bus, passing the wintry brown countryside, we headed towards the mountains surrounding Beijing to visit the Great Wall - a monumental testament to human will that can be seen from space. There is a saying, 不到长城非好汉 (bu4 dao4 chang2 cheng2 fei1 hao3 han4). It means, "Until you reach the Great Wall, you're not a proper person." The Great Wall represents a major hurdle in life, and until you've scaled it, you cannot move on and grow as a person.

It was wonderful walking along the Great Wall, even when it was barely above freezing outside. The weather was surprisingly clear and sunny. There was a sense of adventure, of awe at this testament against time. It was incredible how long it stretched and snaked its way along the mountains into the horizon. Breathtaking.

We only had 2 hours at the Great Wall, not enough time to walk along its ramparts very far. On our way down, we were accosted by many vendors. I decided to bargain for a silk scroll. It was pricey, but I bargained it down to 1/4 of its original price. Later I learned that even at this price I was ripped off. -_-

After lunch, we then headed to the Forbidden City, also know as the Imperial Palace. But first, a gratuitous picture of lunch. Yes, it was like that for almost every meal while we were there. Again, as my friend said: "The food is so good, it shouldn't be this good."

Then we were off to the Forbidden City. We entered through the back into the Imperial Gardens first and exiting the front into Tiananmen Square.

Some of the trees there were hundreds to thousands of years old. There were two "lover trees" in the gardens. One pair of trees grew naturally and appeared to branch in two, and another pair were engineered to give the opposite appearance - to grow into each other.

A pair of trees that naturally grew to be joined in the lower trunk.

A pair of trees engineered to grow into each other.

Upon passing from the gardens into the Forbidden City proper, we encountered doors with the "double happiness" character (喜喜, xi3). Our tour guide (who was walking at Hong Kong speed, I swear) told us that if we rubbed our hands on the characters in a heart-shape, said some words to ourselves, and then put our hands in our pockets, we would find love within 2-3 months. Well, according to that I have until my birthday for love to fall into my lap, haha.

The Imperial Palace was full of symbolisms. From the roofs to the animal guardian statues. From the colors to the layout. There was meaning in ever aspect of creation.

Roof guardian animals grant protection. The more animals, the more protection.

A guardian lioness holds a cub in her left paw.

My favorite picture.

After we finished with the Imperial Palace, we exited into Tiananmen Square. To have learned about Tiananmen Square from a US perspective and then to see it as it currently is, was quite an experience. It wasn't what I expected it to be, though I really had no tangible expectations to begin with. Oh, by the way, there were people in military uniforms everywhere. It was a bit daunting. I think they were performing some of the police duties.

This was all day one. Yes, Great Wall, Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square in one day. We also went to the Pearl Market in Beijing for an hour or so. Everything was bargain-able there. EVERYTHING. In the last 5 minutes I found a vendor who was selling underwear. You could bargain underwear!! I would've bargained and bought underwear, just to say that I did, but alas I ran out of time. I'm not a particularly good bargainer. :-/
-----
In that first day in Beijing, China, I knew what this trip meant to me. It was a means to escape the current humdrum of my life, to explore and feel alive again. Grad school immediately following undergrad with hardly a breath between summers had worn down my mind, body, and soul. I needed to escape, if only for a little while. In China, I immersed myself in an aspect within me that had always existed but suffered from disuse. I sought to connect myself to the world around me, to bridge where I was from and where I am.

Were these people "my" people? Was this land "my" land? I don't know. I've never really felt that anywhere, in the US or in China. But I felt connected. I felt like I was standing on a bridge between two worlds, alternatingly looking East and West. As to how the Chinese thought of me and my roommate? Well, that's for another post. But suffice to say here, the non-Chinese people with us were sometimes referred to as our "American friends."

Pre-China Post

My sincerest apologies for not posting much this week and not having a the first China post up. But, tomorrow! I finally got all my pics uploaded onto Facebook. I'm going to call this my "Pre-China Post." In the meantime, I'd like to note two important things that happened to me this week.

1. I went into lab on Monday, and my researcher tells me, "So, our poster got accepted for the conference." I was like, "Cool . . . what poster?" Apparently, he submitted some poster way back in January to a super-important conference on cancer, and I'm second author! I was supposed to have been emailed and notified, but I figure I might've misread the email and accidentally deleted/archived it. So he printed me out an abstract. We're submitting the paper for publication in the summer, and if accepted, I'll have a citation! Seriously, this citation just fell into my lap. That never happens. Now I have to do the experiments to verify the data and prove myself worthy of my citation.

2. I had my 2 Friday discussion sections. It went well, as usual. I actually ran out of handouts for half of my students in my last section. The professor didn't give me enough, though she thought she gave me way more than I needed. Ha! I have like, 2-3 times more students show up to my sections than other GSIs. I was also amused that 3 students came to me this week in discussion or via email asking to be added to the course website I created for my discussion sections (they weren't originally enrolled in my sections). How cool is that?! My friend AG-F describes me teaching discussion sections as my "weekly pick-me-uppers." It so is, I love teaching!! It makes me happy that, on average, I seem to teach the material better than others and so am more "favored" by the students. At least, that's what the high attendance rate seems to translate for me. I could be completely wrong (but I really hope not).

Okay, now some teaser pics of China.

The Great Wall

The Forbidden City (The Imperial Palace)

To quote my friend: "This food is sooo good, it shouldn't be this good."

near Tiananmen Square

China posts forthcoming soon!!! In the meantime, let AJ's new pic blog, A Bi Boy's Pic Blog, entertain you. XD

Oh, and I changed the layout of my blog. Like it? :P

Resolution: the Intercession

As I mentioned in my last post, I was put back onto my two research projects. All thanks to the intercession by EV-M on my half. :D

EV-M has repeatedly expressed how it's impossible for him to work on the RNA extraction project all by himself, and I've essentially worked on the Western blot project so long that really, only I know what's going on. As such, EV-M has repeatedly appealed to SG-M, the PI (aka, head lab boss), to allow me back on the projects - particularly the RNA extraction one. Anyway, long story short, I'm back!

Now I get to spend 5-6 hours a week extracting RNA from 10-14 samples (3 slides/sample). Oh what fun - at least I have something to do so I'm not wasting my time and theirs. With respect to the Western blot project, the "wet" transfer box doesn't work. Our dry transfer box also doesn't seem to work. EV-M has examined both apparatuses with me and reached the same conclusions as I had. Not surprisingly. So we're going to borrow a transfer box from the lab next to us.

And I'm sure none of that means anything to 99% of you out there reading this. However, I think I know why EV-M has been pushing so hard to have me back on to the RNA extraction project. His wife is due to give birth to their first baby in 4 days (well, 2 now). So he'll be in and out of commission at the lab for the next 2 months. Now, it really IS impossible for him to work on those projects and I'm the only one who can do it (because everyone else is busy, and I'm the only one who knows how to do Western blots).
-----
On a completely different note, I got back my first exam for biostatistics (it sounds just as boring and hard as you think). Everyone had been stressing and fearing the worst. The exam is out of 60 points, the mean is 47, and the lowest score is like 33. There is apparently huge variation in the distribution of the overall exam scores as well as the scores within each question. To me, this screams a poorly written exam.

Anyway, I went into that exam praying (like you have no idea) that I'd just be able to finish and pass the exam. I did finish the exam, but I had NO IDEA if I was right on anything but the first problem - there were only 4 problems.

Well, I got back my exam. I was freaking out. Then I saw my score. 54/60. HOLY CRAP!! I actually kind of shouted exactly that out loud in the basement, I'm sure people could hear me halfway on the other side. Everyone I had talked to, people who actually KNEW the material, got near the mean score. But somehow I did better?! I hope I can only pull this off for the next 2 exams. The next one's in 2 weeks. T.T

Okay, next few posts about China (with pics), I swear!!!

P.S. I still love GSI-ing. Teaching is so satisfying, especially when more students come to your sections than to other GSIs, hahaha. I must be doing something right, right?

---TANGENT---
So, for those who follow Landyn's Stuck In The Middle blog, he's having a crazy time there. Go over and if you have any useful advice, freely give it because he needs some right about now.

Thanks a bunch.
---END TANGENT---

Tributes

The "Intercession" worked, though not necessarily by the design I intended. Aka, I'm back on my research projects. Details to come in the next post.

I want to dedicate this post to some new (and old) blogs and bloggers.

Anyone who follows Razz's blog at Doin' me head in knows he's been having a rough time of late. He seems like an incredible guy and a great bloggers. He needs some positive vibes right now, so head over and say hi and give him a hug.

Landyn at Stuck In The Middle has been having some lows and highs in his life, but right now he's at an all-time high. Head over and help him keep his head up! ^_^

Mirrorboy has started up a new blog, Mirroboy's Words of Win. Should be a good time, I know I'll be reading it.

One of my favorite blogs, Happy to be in my skin, formerly The Real Ugly Duckling, by Shane, has disappeared. :( This makes me sad. Though I've found someone I know who started another blog, Every Little Thing Counts.

I want to redo the look of my blog, perhaps either change the colors or change the template to something else. I don't know yet. Maybe I'll have a little poll about it. What do you guys think? Are you all happy with my current blog look? It feels efficient though a bit cluttered to me. Let me know in a comment.

I swear I will post about China (soon). I will definitely have more than one post on China. But first things first. :P